[If the headline of this piece, and its accompanying text, were not enough to alert you that the new Terminator: Genisys trailer gives away some important plot information about the film, and you then click on the trailer, and get mad about learning that information, that’s on you.]
Terminator: Genisys trailers have been appearing with the cold relentlessness of a time-traveling killing machine. Now, it appears that the emotionless trailers have jumped temporal boundaries to claim one more important target: any sense of surprise generated by an arguably major Terminator: Genisys plot twist.
Time travel as a franchise reboot strategy has become increasingly popular in recent years, first with J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek, then Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Days Of Future Past. Of course, the Terminator movies are based on the premise of time-jumping, and have long used the conceit to make incremental story changes. And indeed, earlier Terminator: Genisys trailers have hinted at continuity changes to the character of Sarah Connor, via a crusty, “hasta la vista, baby”-type T-800 invested in her protection. But this latest trailer rips the curtain back on a whole new premise that was never hinted at in previous trailers. Is it a game-changer? That probably depends on whether you think Skynet is a game, or a real threat hiding in plain sight. And that’s about all we’ll say about it, lest we provoke spoiler-averse, tinfoil-hat wearing mobs to violent protest.
Having robbed you of any sense of surprise, Terminator: Genisys will return to finish off the rest of you when it time-jumps into theaters on July 1.